You are invited to the opening reception of Victor Sloan: Belonging on 15 November 2024 at 7 pm in the Millennium Court Gallery.
Victor Sloan: Belonging
15 November 2024 - 18 January 2025
Millennium Court Gallery, Portadown
Millennium Court is proud to present Victor Sloan: Belonging, an exhibition featuring the powerful work of renowned Irish visual artist Victor Sloan. This showcase spans Sloan’s seminal pieces from the 1980s and 1990s, highlighting his explorations of identity, culture, and conflict in Northern Ireland during a time of deep political upheaval.
The exhibition features selections from some of Sloan’s iconic series including The Walk, the Platform and the Field, The Birches, Craigavon, Drumming, Sham Fight, Explosion, Vietnamese Boat People and Circus, Portadown, all of which delve into the landscape and tensions and everyday culture at the time.
Sloan's innovative use of dyes, inks and paint on both the negative and resulting darkroom print disrupts the photographic image, creating a compelling interplay between conceptual and documentary visions of Northern Irish life.
His work has been exhibited worldwide, establishing him as a pioneering figure in the field. He has dedicated over four decades challenging perceptions of photography while commenting on the social, political, and cultural realities of his homeland.
His works are included in prestigious collections around the world, and his influence continues to shape the landscape of Irish visual art. This exhibition will allow visitors to appreciate Sloan’s exceptional ability to transform photography into a medium for both personal and political narratives.
Belonging provides a valuable opportunity for reflection on Sloan’s artistic journey - from his initial experiments in a darkroom in the 1960s to his recognition as one of Ireland's foremost visual artists, honoured with an MBE in 2002.
This exhibition is designed to engage both longtime admirers and new audiences, illuminating Sloan's enduring legacy and his continued exploration of what it means to belong.
Millennium Court, 5-7 William Street, Portadown, County Armagh, BT62 3NX
Opening Hours, Monday – Friday: 9 am – 4.30 pm
On select Saturdays we are open 9 am – 4 pm, check Facebook for details.
web: https://millenniumcourt.co.uk
tel: 02838350935
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Victor Sloan's work is included in "Now and Then" in Belfast.
NOW AND THEN
5 - 21 September 2024
Belfast Exposed Galler
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Now and Then: Part III is an exhibition themed around "place" exploring how human experience is both influenced by and influences different natural and built environments. Divided into sections titled Home, Traces, and Identity, the exhibition features renowned artists such as Victor Sloan, Paul Seawright, and Victoria J Dean.
Through their work, the exhibition offers a profound exploration of the intricate relationships individuals and communities have with their surroundings. It delves into the diverse range of emotions and narratives evoked by places, from notions of belonging and comfort to experiences of conflict and transformation.
The Artists: Victor Sloan, Paul Seawright, Victoria J Dean, Shannon Ritchie, David Copeland, Sylvia Grace Borda, Eslam Abd El Salam, Frédéric Huska, Jill Quigley, Philip Arneill and Clare Gallagher.
Belfast Exposed Photography
23 Donegall Street
Belfast BT1 2FF
Tel: +44 (0)28 9023 0965
Email: info@belfastexposed.org
Gallery opening hours: 11am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday
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Victor Sloan's work will be shown during the Belfast International Arts Festival.
Belfast Exposed presents Beyond, a new survey exhibition of work from world renowned Irish visual artist Victor Sloan.
Containing both some of Sloan’s iconic works and a series of never before exhibited images. Beyond gives audiences a chance to view a broad survey of work from one of Ireland’s major artists, spanning Sloan’s entire career. The exhibition features both Sloan’s trademark hand-manipulated conceptual images and a range of his documentary photography.
The work has a strong international theme, with images from Poland, Germany, The Golan Heights, Syria and Jordan displayed, alongside pieces from Northern Ireland.
"We’re thrilled to once again welcome Victor Sloan to Belfast Exposed for Beyond, a broad ranging survey of his work from over the last four decades. Combining both his conceptual and documentary work, this exhibition showcases the extraordinary range of an artist who has exerted an incredible influence upon Irish visual art.
Sloan’s analogue methods of image manipulation in particular is an instantly recognisable artistic signature that produces unique, arresting images.
The placing of this work alongside a selection of Sloan's documentary photography - taken everywhere from Northern Ireland to the Golan Heights - emphasises the depth and breadth of Sloan’s body of work and his versatility across different forms of photography"
Deirdre Robb, Director of Belfast Exposed
Opening Reception: Thursday 12 October 2023, 6pm – 8pm.
Beyond will run from Thursday 12th October until Thursday 21st December 2023.
Victor Sloan will be in conversation during a special artist talk on Thursday 26 October 2023.
Victor Sloan: Beyond, Belfast Exposed Gallery
About the Artist
Victor Sloan is one of Ireland’s major visual artists. He was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. He studied at Belfast and Leeds Colleges of Art. He has developed an international reputation for creating powerful images, which display his prodigious versatility and inventiveness. He is known for his works commenting on various political, social and cultural aspects of Northern Ireland. As well as working with the medium of photography, he also uses video, etching and screen-printing.
Sloan has been an exhibiting artist since 1980, and his work has been displayed widely throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia. His work is to be found in numerous important private and public collections worldwide.
Belfast Exposed Photography
23 Donegall Street
Belfast BT1 2FF
Tel: +44 (0)28 9023 0965
Email: info@belfastexposed.org
Gallery opening hours: 11am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday
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AGAINST THE IMAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY. MEDIA. MANIPULATION
27 May - 30 October 2022
Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
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Belfast Photo Festival and Ulster Museum are delighted to present Against The Image: Photography. Media. Manipulation, featuring the work of Victor Sloan, Tabitha Soren, Alexandra Rose Howland and Now You See Me Moria.
The exhibition looks to examine the authority of the photograph in our era of mass media and mass (mis)information. How we consume news and media imagery has evolved, with access to the world seemingly at our fingertips: is what we see the reality?
Artists are exposing this tension, between the truth of events and how they are presented. Responding to various global events and conflicts, the artists included here challenge and expose photography’s highly subjective and mediated nature. They do this by subverting the medium itself — working onto the surface of, distorting or otherwise manipulating images — to expose narratives that often go unseen or some ways resist representation. In doing so they encourage us to question what photographic practice is in the modern age and reflect on how we absorb media in our daily lives.
This exhibition is co-curated by Clare Gormley, Head of Programmes and Partnerships at Belfast Photo Festival, and Anna Liesching, Curator of Art at Ulster Museum (National Museums NI).
ARTIST TALK: VICTOR SLOAN
Saturday, June 11, 2022
1:00 - 2:00 PM
Ulster Museum
Botanic Gardens, Belfast BT9 5AB
Regarded as one of Ireland's greatest contemporary photographers, Sloan’s distinctive work is created by painting, marking and scoring directly onto photographic negatives. Join us for this artist talk and tour, as part of the exhibition Against The Image at Ulster Museum.
This exhibition is supported by:
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Victor Sloan’s work is shown in Dublin.
Images Are All We Have
The Paintwork’s, Dublin Castle, Ireland
7th July - 28th August 2022
Under the title “Opening The Gates”, the 13th edition of PhotoIreland Festival presents the most comprehensive overview on the History and Practice of Photography in Ireland to date, running 7th July to 28th August 2022 in various locations, with the main venue at “The Printworks”, Dublin Castle.
The main exhibition “Images Are All We Have” traces the thematic development of the discipline and contextualises the historical background, bringing together the diverse and socially engaged set of contemporary art practices that define Irish Photography today.
This survey exhibition on the discipline involves artists spanning several generations, practices, and backgrounds.
Contact PhotoIreland:
+353 876856169
info@photoireland.org
T: @PhotoIreland
F: /PhotoIreland.org
I: @PhotoIreland
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Victor Sloan's work is exhibited in Belfast.
Victor Sloan's work is shown in ‘Island Life’ in Bristol, England.
ISLAND LIFE
18 May – 31 October 2021
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery | Queens Rd, Bristol BS8 1RL
Bristol Photo Festival 2021
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| 'Ferryquay Gate, Derry', silver gelatin print, toners and watercolours,1989. |
Island Life draws upon photographs from the Martin Parr Foundation
collection to show the changing fabric of our cities, society and
collective identities. Focusing on post-war from the UK and Ireland,
the exhibition will bring together images by over 60 photographers
Collectively the images form a compelling study of national behaviour.
The exhibition includes photographs which document moments of
historical significance including the poll tax riot, the Aberfan mine
disaster and most recently, the BLM movement. These will be
displayed alongside images depicting the everyday – weddings,
shopping, football and Butlin’s holidays. Island Life traces the
evolution of documentary photography in Britain, the photographers
who influenced Parr and the younger generation he is influencing in
turn.
Artists;
Akihiko Okamura, Anna Fox, Brian Griffin, Cas Oorthuys,
Chloe Dewe Mathews, Chris Howgate, Chris Killip, Chris Shaw,
Clémentine Schneidermann and Charlotte James, Clive Landen,
Colin Jones, Colin Moody, Dafydd Jones, Dan Wood, Daniel Meadows,
David Hoffman, David Hurn, David Wise, Don McCullin,
Dougie Wallace, Eamonn Doyle, Elaine Constantine, Gilles Peress,
Graham Smith, Homer Sykes, Humphrey Spender, Ian Macdonald,
Ian Weldon, Jill Quigley, Jo Spence and Terry Dennett, John Davies,
John Hinde, Jon Tonks, Karen Knorr, Ken Grant, Khali Ackford,
Lorenzo Vitturi, Marcelo Brodsky, Mark Neville, Markéta Luskačová,
Paul Graham, Paul Reas, Paul Seawright, Paul Trevor, Peter Mitchell,
Pogus Caesar, Raymond Depardon, Raymond Moore,Richard Billingham,
Robin Friend, Roger Mayne, Ron McCormick, Sergio Larrain,
Shirley Baker, Siân Davey, Simon Roberts, Sue Packer, Sunil Gupta,
Tom Wood, Tony Ray-Jones, Victor Sloan, Vinca Petersen.
Schloss Biesdorf, Berlin
Opening on October 27, 2019, 06:00-10:00 p.m.
30 years ago, in November 1989, after 28 years of existence, the Berlin Wall, symbol of German division, was accidentally opened by strong public pressure from many people in the eastern part of the country. The trigger was a misleadingly formulated note, read out at a press conference by Günter Schabowski: "To the best of my knowledge ... that is immediately, immediately".
On the occasion of this worldwide symbolic event, Schloss Biesdorf is opening the exhibition Von Menschen und Mauern (People and Walls) on October 27, 2019.
In addition to various artistic works on the Berlin Wall, its opening and its slow disappearance, the exhibition shows positions on political walls in a global context. Today, walls still demarcate and exclude people all over the world, locking them in, constricting and separating people from each other. The perspectives of the participating artists reveal dividing lines and boundaries between the included and the excluded, illuminating the relationship between man and political power. Works of fine art from various genres are shown: painting, graphics, sculpture, photography, performance, multimedia and video.
Participating artists:
Marina Abramovic/Ulay, Kurt Buchwald, Christo (reproduction with the kind support of Matthias Koddenberg), Sighard Gille, Sabina Grzimek, Franz John, Martin Kippenberger (reproduction with the kind support of Galerie Gisela Capitain), Mark Lammert, Wolf Leo/Manfred Butzmann, Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler, Rudi Meisel, Manfred Paul, Stefan Roloff, Jürgen Schneider, Erasmus Schröter, Victor Sloan, Peter Thieme, Wolf Vostell and Dieter Wendland and others
Curated by Gabriele Muschter and Uwe Warnke in collaboration with Karin Scheel
Lenders: the artists, DPA
A catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition.
Dialogical guided tours through the exhibition with Fenia Franz (Labor M), the dates will follow soon.
Accompanying programme: Labor M – art education at Schloss Biesdorf
An event of the department of culture Marzahn-Hellersdorf.
More information about culture in Marzahn-Hellersdorf can be found on the Internet at www.kultur-marzahn-hellersdorf.de.
Victor Sloan's work is included in Troubles Art
Troubles Art
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Victor Sloan's works are included in Crossing Lines.
Crossing Lines, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda
This joint exhibition runs concurrently in both galleries from 23 November 2018 to 26 January 2019. It explores ideas of dissent, dissonance, and difference in art and society; embracing change, inspiring hope, and the important role that art and artists have in challenging traditional thinking, provoking reflection, insight and fostering new ideas that often defy the norm.
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VICTOR SLOAN: SIGNED LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
Belfast Exposed are proud to be producing 50 signed limited edition reproductions of the original Belfast Zoo III by Victor Sloan, one of Ireland’s major visual artists.
These unique high-quality reproductions are printed on ‘Hahnemuhle FineArt Baryta Satin 300gsm’ archival paper. The dimensions of the prints are 17” x 17”, which includes a 3.5” white border. The prints are £125 and come with a certificate of authentication.
To purchase one of these exclusive artworks, please contact Conor by email at c.obrien@belfastexposed.org
“I want a photograph to say more than a photograph usually says. It’s not just a photograph in a magazine. It’s a statement… something personal. I want to make people to look at the image in a different way; see behind the image. People tend to dismiss photographs as just being photographs.” (1)
In 1983 Victor Sloan paid a visit to Belfast Zoo with his children. He brought a camera to take some family snaps, but he ended up taking a different, more troubled and troubling kind of photograph. He found himself standing looking in sadness and dismay at the chimpanzees trapped behind a pane of scratched, scarred, battered perspex, its cloudy surface smeared with ice cream and marked by graffiti. As he observes now: "Someone said that you can tell a lot about a society by the state of its zoo."
There and then he decided to take photographs of the animals. But rather than trying to isolate them from their context, he deliberately viewed them entirely in terms of their context. The chimpanzees are virtually silhouettes, distanced, tenuous presences behind grubby perspex. The glare of the flash bounces uncomfortably back at us and the images have a worn, battered look about them.
The chimpanzees in their cage are on show. The contemporary debate on the ethics of zoos relates to the contested point where elucidation shades over into entertainment, and to the specious presumption of superiority, all issues pertinent, as it happens, to human societies. It also touches on the conditions of captivity. The thing about animals confined to zoos is that their lives have, particularly in the past, been reduced to impoverished, repetitive parodies of their existence in the wild. Sloan photographed various kinds of animals in the zoo, but felt himself drawn back to the images of chimps because, as he says, we relate to monkeys, we see ourselves in them. The caged animal, its life recast and displayed as a theatrical, reductive parody of itself, is a metaphor for the individual immersed in the codified, ritualised world of a social and cultural framework. (2)
While it is true that the artist disclaims any social or political intention at this juncture – it was to be a while before he consciously began to interrogate his images – nevertheless, a number of these images function metaphorically as statements about Northern Ireland. For example Belfast Zoo I, reveals the legend ‘I.R.A.’ scraped into the perspex, encouraging a reading which would suggest that the Northern Irish are trapped by the I.R.A., like the monkeys in the cage. They can stare outwards but are incapable of effecting change: they are prisoners in their own society. (1)
1: Extract from Marking the North - the Work of Victor Sloan, by Brian McAvera, published by Open Air, Dublin and Impressions, York, England
2: Extract from A Broken Surface: Victor Sloan's Photographic Work by Aidan Dunne in Victor Sloan: Selected Works 1980-2000, published by Ormeau Baths Gallery and Orchard Gallery, January, 2001.
Some of Victor Sloan's works:
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